A Grandville man pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of second-degree murder after a June crash on M-46 near Derby Road killed two 17-year-old parents who had a 5-month-old son together. Brian Nowicki also admitted to one count of operating with a high blood alcohol concentration, resolving a case that began with the deaths of Latrese McFerrin and Mark Pettengill on June 18.
According to a report, Nowicki was traveling about 114 mph when he rear-ended the couple's vehicle, pushing it into oncoming traffic, where it was struck by two more vehicles. McFerrin and Pettengill were both pronounced dead at the scene. Nowicki has admitted to two counts of second-degree murder, which is punishable by life imprisonment, along with the high-BAC operating charge, and the case was also covered by WZZM13.
A Young Family Shattered on M-46
McFerrin and Pettengill left behind a son who was 5 months old at the time of the crash, per the same account. The two teens were killed together on the roadway near Derby Road, a stretch of highway that became the scene of a crash involving multiple vehicles after Nowicki's impact sent their car into the path of oncoming traffic.
Accounts of Nowicki's blood alcohol level differ. Prosecutors told the outlet his blood alcohol content was .33 at the time of the crash, while Fox 17 reported his level as .334. Either figure is more than four times Michigan's legal limit for driving. Fox 17 also reported that two other people were hurt in the crash.
Found in a Ditch With a Bottle of Whiskey
The day after the crash, a Michigan State Police trooper found Nowicki in a ditch off M-46 near Derby Road with a bottle of Jim Beam whiskey tucked in his waistband, according to Fox 17's account of court testimony. Investigators also found that Nowicki had prior alcohol-related convictions in Michigan and California, along with alcohol-related licensing actions in Missouri and a pending implied-consent refusal tied to his June 18 arrest, the report states.
Fox 17 has separately reported that databases showed prior operating-while-intoxicated convictions tied to Nowicki across Michigan, Missouri and California. WOOD TV8 reported that Nowicki told a state trooper he had already been arrested for driving drunk at least three times since 2022. The case initially began with 10 charges stemming from the crash, according to The Daily News, before narrowing to the second-degree murder and high-BAC counts resolved in Thursday's plea.
What Comes Next in Sentencing
Nowicki faces a minimum sentence of 25 years and, as part of his plea, gave up his right to file an application for leave to appeal, the report states. Sentencing will occur four to six weeks after pre-sentence investigations are completed, and the court may impose a sentence up to the maximum, with all sentences running concurrently.
Under Michigan law, second-degree murder may be punished by imprisonment for life or any term of years, at the court's discretion, according to the Michigan Legislature. That statute gives the sentencing judge wide latitude in a case where prosecutors say a repeat drunk-driving offender ended two young lives and left an infant son without his parents.
